Consular kiosks and methods

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the invention provide a method of implementing electronic transfers with government consulates. The method may include receiving, via the interface terminal, a selection of a country&#39;s consulate and a location of the consulate comprising a city in which the consulate has an office. The method may also include receiving, via the interface terminal, a consulate service selection. The method may further include receiving, at an input device, documentation necessary to complete the selected service type. The method may moreover include receiving, via the interface terminal, a payment for the selected service. The method may additionally include transmitting the service type selection, the documents, and the payment to the selected consulate.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/392,959, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,225,987, entitled “CONSULAR KIOSKS ANDMETHODS”, issued Jul. 24, 2012, filed on Feb. 25, 2009, which isincorporated by reference, in its entirety, for any and all purposes, asif fully set forth herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates, in general, to electronic transactions,and more particularly, to electronic transfers to and from governmentconsulates.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Currently, in order to interact with government consulates to obtaindocuments, report vital occurrences (e.g., deaths, births, marriages,etc.), among other services, a customer must execute all transactionsmanually in paper form, and pay any fees and/or costs with a check ormoney order. As such, interacting with consulates is time-consuming,labor intensive, slow, and provides for limited payment options.Accordingly, improvements in the art are needed.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method for implementing electronictransfers with government consulates. The method includes presenting aninterface terminal to a customer. The interface terminal is configuredto receive input from the customer. Further, the method includesreceiving, via the interface terminal, a selection of a country'sconsulate. The method further includes receiving, via the interfaceterminal, a consulate service type selection, and receiving, at an inputdevice, documentation necessary to complete the selected service type.Furthermore, the method includes receiving, via the interface terminal,a payment for the selected service, and transmitting to the selectedcountry's consulate the service type selection, the documents, and thepayment.

An alternative embodiment provides a system for implementing electronictransfers with government consulates. The system includes a kiosk havinga terminal interface. The terminal interface is configured to receiveinput from the customer, receive a selection of a country's consulate,receive a consulate service type selection, and receive a payment forthe selected service. The kiosk further has a dynamic scanner configuredto scan documentation necessary to complete the selected service type,and a communications device configured to transmit the selectedcountry's consulate the service type selection, the documents, and thepayment to the selected consulate.

The system further includes a transaction processor in communicationwith the kiosk via the communications device. The transaction processoris configured to receive the service type selection, the documents, andthe payment from the kiosk, and transmit a service request. The systemalso includes a consulate system in communication with the transactionprocessor. The consulate system configured to receive and process theservice request.

A further embodiment provides a machine-readable medium for implementingelectronic transfers with government consulates. The machine-readablemedium includes instructions for presenting an interface terminal to acustomer. The interface terminal is configured to receive input from thecustomer. Further, the machine-readable medium includes instructions forreceiving, via the interface terminal, a selection of a country'sconsulate. The machine-readable medium further includes instructions forreceiving, via the interface terminal, a consulate service typeselection, and instructions for receiving, at an input device,documentation necessary to complete the selected service type.Furthermore, the machine-readable medium includes instructions forreceiving, via the interface terminal, a payment for the selectedservice, and instructions for transmitting to the selected country'sconsulate the service type selection, the documents, and the payment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the presentinvention may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of thespecification and the drawings wherein like reference numerals are usedthroughout the several drawings to refer to similar components. In someinstances, a sublabel is associated with a reference numeral to denoteone of multiple similar components. When reference is made to areference numeral without specification to an existing sublabel, it isintended to refer to all such multiple similar components.

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of implementingelectronic transfers to and from government consulates, according to oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are block diagrams illustrating systems for implementingelectronic transfers to and from government consulates, according to oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an interface device forfacilitating electronic transfers to and from government consulates,according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a generalized schematic diagram illustrating a computersystem, in accordance with various embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a networked system of computers,which can be used in accordance with various embodiments of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Aspects of the present invention relate to providing electronic documentand funds transfer to and from government consulate offices. Such amethod and system provide customers with the ability to easily scanmultiple documents of various size and shape as well as the ability topay for services rendered from a variety of sources. Furthermore, allrequired documents are able to be transmitted to the consulate office ina single file/transaction. Hence, the process of receiving services fromconsulate offices is stream-lined and simplified.

Turning now to FIG. 1, a flow diagram illustrates a method 100 ofimplementing electronic transfers to and from government consulates,according to one embodiment of the present invention. At process block105, a terminal interface is presented to a customer. In one embodiment,the terminal interface may be located in a kiosk machine. Alternatively,the terminal interface may be at an automated teller machine (ATM), apersonal computer, a branch location, via a web interface, etc.Furthermore, the terminal interface may be a touch screen which allowsthe customer to interact directly with the screen. Alternatively, theterminal interface may be a display screen with a mouse, a keyboard, atouchpad, etc. used to interact with the terminal interface.

In addition, the terminal interface may present with customer withvarious options which the customer may select from. In one embodiment,the customer may be given the option of entering in personal contactinformation (process block 110). For example, the customer may entertheir name, address, phone number, email address, nationality, etc. andthe customer may also be able to create a user profile with a usernameand password. As such, once the customer logs in, the customer'sinformation will automatically be populated. Further, the customer'stransaction history may be stored and displayed to the customer atlogin. Thus, common transactions may be easily located and resubmitted,modified, tracked, etc.

At process block 115, a selection of the country of the consulate andthe location of the consulate may be received. For example, the terminalinterface may present the customer with the option of either searchingfor a country by name, or alternatively listing all countries servicedat the kiosk, and allowing the customer to select their desired country.Furthermore, once the customer has selected the country, the location ofthe consulate may also be selected. For example, the customer may selectthe French consulate and all of the locations of the French consulatemay be displayed (e.g., the Los Angeles location, the New York location,the Denver location, etc.), and then the customer can select the desiredlocation by, for example, touching the location on the touch screenterminal interface.

At process block 120, the customer may select the desired consulateservice. For example, once the consulate has been selected, the terminalinterface may display all of the possible services offered by thatconsulate. Some services may be, for example, registering a new birth,registering a death, requesting a birth certificate, or requesting apassport or other official documents. It should be apparent thatservices may be offered additional to those listed, and that eachconsulate will offer a different set of services based on theirgovernment structure, etc.

Furthermore, at process block 125, the necessary documents may be inputinto the kiosk as required by the consulate for the desired service. Forexample, in order to report a new birth, the consulate may require theparent's passport and an official doctor's report of the birth. As such,the customer may insert these documents into the kiosk so that they maybe transmitted to the consulate. In one embodiment, a dynamic scannermay be attached to the kiosk or in the housing of the kiosk to receiveand scan the documents. In one embodiment, the scanner may be able toadapt to the size, shape, texture, thickness, etc. of the document to bescanned. Hence, the scanner would be a dynamic scanner.

At process block 130, verification of the successful inputting of thedocuments may be received. For example, as the documents are scanned,the terminal interface may display the scanned documents for viewing bythe customer. The customer may then be able to visually verify that thedocument scanned correctly. Alternatively, the scanned document may becompared against a control document of the same document type in orderto verify that the document scanned correctly. A database of controldocuments for each document type and each consulate may be stored in astorage device in the kiosk or available to the kiosk.

After the necessary documents have been properly scanned and anyadditional information has been inputted by the customer, payment forthe service(s) may be presented (process block 135). In one embodiment,payment may be made using, for example, cash, check, money order,credit, debit, electronic funds transfer, wire transfer, money transfer,e-wallet, e-currency, etc. The ability to pay for the consulate servicesusing alternative payment methods other than check or money orderprovides a significant benefit to customers, because presentlyconsulates only accept check or money orders.

Once the necessary documents, additional information, and funds havebeen inputted into the kiosk, they are then transmitted to the selectedconsulate (process block 140). Alternatively, these items may betransmitted to a processing agent, and then the processing agent mayforward the items to the selected consulate. Either way, once theconsulate receives the scanned documents, the additional information,and the payment funds, the request may then be processed.

At process block 145, the customer may receive a transactionconfirmation from the consulate directly or through the processingagent. Additionally, an update may be received as the process of fillingthe request is performed by the consulate. For example, the customer mayreceive emails, SMS text messages, voicemails, paper mail, etc.indicating confirmation of the transaction or updated information aboutthe transaction.

Turning next to FIG. 2A, a block diagram illustrates a system forimplementing electronic transfers to and from government consulates,according to one embodiment of the present invention. The system mayinclude a terminal interface 205 connected with a transaction processor210 and multiple consulate locations (1, 2, N) 215, 217, and 219connected with transaction processor 210. In one embodiment, terminalinterface 205 may be the terminal interface described above in FIG. 1.Likewise, transaction processor 210 may be the processing agent asdescribed in FIG. 1, and consulate locations 215, 217, and 219 may bethe consulate location described in FIG. 1.

In a further embodiment, terminal interface 205 may be implemented in akiosk and be configured to provide a customer with the consulateservices as described in FIG. 1. Service options may be presented to thecustomer at terminal interface 205, and the service selection may betransmitted to transaction processor 210 to be processed. Furthermore, ascanning device may be located at terminal interface 205 in order toreceive the necessary documents for the service to be rendered. Further,transaction processor 210 may then forward the request and documents tothe selected consulate location (i.e., one of consulate locations 215,217, or 219). Accordingly, the selected consulate location 215, 217, or219 may then transmit confirmation of the service request and/or updatesconcerning the request to either transaction processor 210, terminalinterface 205, or the customer.

Furthermore, transaction processor 210 may be configured to charge a feefor processing the consulate service request for the customer. Forexample, the customer may be charged a flat fee for the service, a perdocument fee, a per service fee, a percentage of the fee charged by theconsulate for the service, etc. Additionally, the consulate may also becharged by transaction processor 210 in the same or in a similarfashion.

Alternatively, in FIG. 2B, the system includes a central consulate 220as opposed to individual consulate locations 215, 217, and 219. In thisconfiguration instead of transaction processor 210 interacting withindividual consulate locations, all transactions and/or requests go to acentral location, which can save the consulate's country time and money.

Referring next to FIG. 3, the figure illustrates one embodiment ofterminal interface 205 configured to facilitate electronic transfers toand from government consulates. Terminal interface 205 may include adocument interface 305 and a communication device 310. Documentinterface 305 may be configured to receive and scan the necessarydocuments for the selected service. Document interface 305 maydynamically change its size and/or shape to accommodate the documentbeing inputted, such that no matter the size, shape, texture, thickness,material, etc., document interface 305 is able to scan the document.

In addition, communications device 310 may be in communication withtransaction processor 210 and/or consulates 215, 217, and 219, orcentral consulate 220. Communications device 310 may be, for example, aWi-Fi device, a cellular device, a modem, a Bluetooth adapter, awireless radio, a network interface card (NIC), a USB adapter, etc.Accordingly, documents, payment funds, and other information necessaryto render the requested service may be transmitted using communicationdevice 310 to transaction processor 210 and/or consulates 215, 217, and219, or central consulate 220.

FIG. 4 provides a schematic illustration of one embodiment of a computersystem 400 that can perform the methods of the invention, as describedherein, and/or can function as, for example, transaction processor 210(FIGS. 2A and 2B). It should be noted that FIG. 4 is meant only toprovide a generalized illustration of various components, any or all ofwhich may be utilized as appropriate. FIG. 4, therefore, broadlyillustrates how individual system elements may be implemented in arelatively separated or relatively more integrated manner.

The computer system 400 is shown comprising hardware elements that canbe electrically coupled via a bus 405 (or may otherwise be incommunication, as appropriate). The hardware elements can include one ormore processors 410, including, without limitation, one or more generalpurpose processors and/or one or more special purpose processors (suchas digital signal processing chips, graphics acceleration chips, and/orthe like); one or more input devices 415, which can include, withoutlimitation, a mouse, a numeric keypad, a keyboard, a touch screen,and/or the like; and one or more output devices 420, which can include,without limitation, a display device, a printer, a sound card and/or thelike.

The computer system 400 may further include (and/or be in communicationwith) one or more storage devices 425, which can comprise, withoutlimitation, local and/or network accessible storage and/or can include,without limitation, a disk drive, a drive array, an optical storagedevice, a solid-state storage device, such as a random access memory(“RAM”) and/or a read-only memory (“ROM”), which can be programmable,flash-updateable and/or the like. The computer system 400 might alsoinclude a communications subsystem 430, which can include withoutlimitation a modem, a network card (wireless or wired), an infra-redcommunication device, a wireless communication device and/or chipset(such as a Bluetooth™ device, an 802.11 device, a WiFi device, a WiMaxdevice, cellular communication facilities, mesh network, etc.), and/orthe like. The communications subsystem 430 may permit data to beexchanged with a network (such as the network described below, to nameone example), and/or any other devices described herein. In manyembodiments, the computer system 400 will further comprise a workingmemory 435, which can include a RAM or ROM device, as described above.

The computer system 400 can also comprise software elements, shown asbeing currently located within the working memory 435, including anoperating system 440 and/or other code, such as one or more applicationprograms 445 or Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), which maycomprise computer programs of the invention, and/or may be designed toimplement methods of the invention and/or configure systems of theinvention, as described herein. Merely by way of example, one or moreprocedures described with respect to the method(s) discussed above mightbe implemented as code and/or instructions executable by a computer(and/or a processor within a computer). A set of these instructionsand/or code might be stored on a computer-readable storage medium, suchas the storage device(s) 425 described above. In some cases, the storagemedium might be incorporated within a computer system, such as thesystem 400. In other embodiments, the storage medium might be separatefrom a computer system (e.g., a removable medium, such as a compactdisc, etc.), and/or provided in an installation package, such that thestorage medium can be used to program a general purpose computer withthe instructions/code stored thereon. These instructions might take theform of executable code, which is executable by the computer system 400and/or might take the form of source and/or installable code, which,upon compilation and/or installation on the computer system 400 (e.g.,using any of a variety of generally available compilers, installationprograms, compression/decompression utilities, etc.), then takes theform of executable code.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantialvariations may be made in accordance with specific requirements. Forexample, customized hardware might also be used, and/or particularelements might be implemented in hardware, software (including portablesoftware, such as applets, etc.), or both. Further, connection withother computing devices such as network input/output devices may beemployed.

In one aspect, the invention employs a computer system (such as thecomputer system 400) to perform methods of the invention. According to aset of embodiments, some or all of the procedures of such methods areperformed by the computer system 400 in response to processor 410executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions (which mightbe incorporated into the operating system 440 and/or other code, such asan application program 445) contained in the working memory 435. Suchinstructions may be read into the working memory 435 from anothermachine-readable medium, such as one or more of the storage device(s)425. Merely by way of example, execution of the sequences ofinstructions contained in the working memory 435 might cause theprocessor(s) 410 to perform one or more procedures of the methodsdescribed herein.

The terms “machine-readable medium” and “computer-readable medium,” asused herein, refer to any medium that participates in providing datathat causes a machine to operate in a specific fashion. In an embodimentimplemented using the computer system 400, various machine-readablemedia might be involved in providing instructions/code to processor(s)410 for execution and/or might be used to store and/or carry suchinstructions/code (e.g., as signals). In many implementations, acomputer-readable medium is a physical and/or tangible storage medium.Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to,non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatilemedia includes, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as thestorage device(s) 425. Volatile media includes, without limitation,dynamic memory, such as the working memory 435. Transmission mediaincludes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including thewires that comprise the bus 405, as well as the various components ofthe communication subsystem 430 (and/or the media by which thecommunications subsystem 430 provides communication with other devices).Hence, transmission media can also take the form of waves (includingwithout limitation radio, acoustic and/or light waves, such as thosegenerated during radio-wave and infra-red data communications).

Common forms of physical and/or tangible computer-readable mediainclude, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk,magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other opticalmedium, punchcards, papertape, any other physical medium with patternsof holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chipor cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any othermedium from which a computer can read instructions and/or code.

Various forms of machine-readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequences of one or more instructions to the processor(s) 410for execution. Merely by way of example, the instructions may initiallybe carried on a magnetic disk and/or optical disc of a remote computer.A remote computer might load the instructions into its dynamic memoryand send the instructions as signals over a transmission medium to bereceived and/or executed by the computer system 400. These signals,which might be in the form of electromagnetic signals, acoustic signals,optical signals and/or the like, are all examples of carrier waves onwhich instructions can be encoded, in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention.

The communications subsystem 430 (and/or components thereof) generallywill receive the signals, and the bus 405 then might carry the signals(and/or the data, instructions, etc., carried by the signals) to theworking memory 435, from which the processor(s) 410 retrieves andexecutes the instructions. The instructions received by the workingmemory 435 may optionally be stored on a storage device 425 eitherbefore or after execution by the processor(s) 410.

A set of embodiments comprises systems for implementing location-basedmoney transfers. Merely by way of example, FIG. 5 illustrates aschematic diagram of a system 500 that can be used in accordance withone set of embodiments. The system 500 can include one or more usercomputers 505. The user computers 505 can be general purpose personalcomputers (including, merely by way of example, personal computersand/or laptop computers running any appropriate flavor of MicrosoftCorp.'s Windows™ (e.g., Vista™) and/or Apple Corp.'s Macintosh™operating systems) and/or workstation computers running any of a varietyof commercially available UNIX™ or UNIX-like operating systems. Theseuser computers 505 can also have any of a variety of applications,including one or more applications configured to perform methods of theinvention, as well as one or more office applications, database clientand/or server applications, and/or web browser applications.Alternatively, the user computers 505 can be any other electronicdevice, such as a thin-client computer, cellular telephone,Internet-enabled mobile telephone, and/or personal digital assistant(PDA), capable of communicating via a network (e.g., the network 510described below) and/or displaying and/or navigating web pages or othertypes of electronic documents. Although the exemplary system 500 isshown with three user computers 505, any number of user computers can besupported.

Certain embodiments of the invention may operate in a networkedenvironment, which can include a network 510. The network 510 can be anytype of network familiar to those skilled in the art that can supportdata communications using any of a variety of commercially availableprotocols, including without limitation TCP/IP, SNA, IPX, AppleTalk, andthe like. Merely by way of example, the network 510 can be a local areanetwork (“LAN”), including without limitation an Ethernet network, aToken-Ring network and/or the like; a wide-area network (WAN); a virtualnetwork, including without limitation a virtual private network (“VPN”);the Internet; an intranet; an extranet; a public switched telephonenetwork (“PSTN”); an infra-red network; a wireless network, includingwithout limitation a network operating under any of the IEEE 802.11suite of protocols, mesh network, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA),Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Global System for Mobilecommunications (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), theBluetooth™ protocol known in the art, and/or any other wirelessprotocol; and/or any combination of these and/or other networks.

Embodiments of the invention can include one or more server computers515 or mainframe computers. Each of the server computers 515 may beconfigured with an operating system, including without limitation any ofthose discussed above, as well as any commercially (or freely) availableserver operating systems. Each of the servers 515 may also be runningone or more applications, which can be configured to provide services toone or more user computers 505 and/or other servers 515.

Merely by way of example, one of the servers 515 may be a web server,which can be used, merely by way of example, to process requests for webpages or other electronic documents from user computers 505. The webserver can also run a variety of server applications, including HTTPservers, FTP servers, CGI servers, database servers, Java™ servers, andthe like. In some embodiments of the invention, the web server may beconfigured to serve web pages that can be operated within a web browseron one or more of the user computers 505 to perform methods of theinvention.

The server computers 515, in some embodiments, might include one or moreapplication servers, which can include one or more applicationsaccessible by a client running on one or more of the client computers505 and/or other servers 515. Merely by way of example, the server(s)515 can be one or more general purpose computers capable of executingprograms or scripts in response to the user computers 505 and/or otherservers 515, including without limitation web applications (which might,in some cases, be configured to perform methods of the invention).Merely by way of example, a web application can be implemented as one ormore scripts or programs written in any suitable programming language,such as Java™, C, C#™ or C++, and/or any scripting language, such asPerl, Python, or TCL, as well as combinations of anyprogramming/scripting languages. The application server(s) can alsoinclude database servers, including without limitation thosecommercially available from Oracle™, Microsoft™, Sybase™, IBM™ and thelike, which can process requests from clients (including, depending onthe configuration, database clients, API clients, web browsers, etc.)running on a user computer 505 and/or another server 515. In someembodiments, an application server can create web pages dynamically fordisplaying the information in accordance with embodiments of theinvention. Data provided by an application server may be formatted asweb pages (comprising HTML, Javascript, WML, etc., for example) and/ormay be forwarded to a user computer 505 via a web server (as describedabove, for example). Similarly, a web server might receive web pagerequests and/or input data from a user computer 505 and/or forward theweb page requests and/or input data to an application server. In somecases, a web server may be integrated with an application server.

In accordance with further embodiments, one or more servers 515 canfunction as a file server and/or can include one or more of the files(e.g., application code, data files, etc.) necessary to implementmethods of the invention incorporated by an application running on auser computer 505 and/or another server 515. Alternatively, as thoseskilled in the art will appreciate, a file server can include allnecessary files, allowing such an application to be invoked remotely bya user computer 505 and/or server 515. It should be noted that thefunctions described with respect to various servers herein (e.g.,application server, database server, web server, file server, etc.) canbe performed by a single server or mainframe computer and/or a pluralityof specialized servers or mainframe computers, depending onimplementation-specific needs and parameters.

In certain embodiments, the system can include one or more databases520. The location of the database(s) 520 is discretionary: merely by wayof example, a database 520 a might reside on a storage medium local to(and/or resident in) a server 515 a (and/or a user computer 505).Alternatively, a database 520 b can be remote from any or all of thecomputers 505, 515, so long as the database can be in communication(e.g., via the network 510) with one or more of these. In a particularset of embodiments, a database 520 can reside in a storage-area network(“SAN”) familiar to those skilled in the art. (Likewise, any necessaryfiles for performing the functions attributed to the computers 505, 515can be stored locally on the respective computer and/or remotely, asappropriate.) In one set of embodiments, the database 520 can be arelational database, such as an Oracle™ database, that is adapted tostore, update, and retrieve data in response to SQL-formatted commands.The database might be controlled and/or maintained by a database server,as described above, for example.

While the invention has been described with respect to exemplaryembodiments, one skilled in the art will recognize that numerousmodifications are possible. For example, the methods and processesdescribed herein may be implemented using hardware components, softwarecomponents, and/or any combination thereof. Further, while variousmethods and processes described herein may be described with respect toparticular structural and/or functional components for ease ofdescription, methods of the invention are not limited to any particularstructural and/or functional architecture but instead can be implementedon any suitable hardware, firmware and/or software configuration.Similarly, while various functionality is ascribed to certain systemcomponents, unless the context dictates otherwise, this functionalitycan be distributed among various other system components in accordancewith different embodiments of the invention.

Moreover, while the procedures comprised in the methods and processesdescribed herein are described in a particular order for ease ofdescription, unless the context dictates otherwise, various proceduresmay be reordered, added, and/or omitted in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention. Moreover, the procedures described withrespect to one method or process may be incorporated within otherdescribed methods or processes; likewise, system components describedaccording to a particular structural architecture and/or with respect toone system may be organized in alternative structural architecturesand/or incorporated within other described systems. Hence, while variousembodiments are described with—or without—certain features for ease ofdescription and to illustrate exemplary features, the various componentsand/or features described herein with respect to a particular embodimentcan be substituted, added and/or subtracted from among other describedembodiments, unless the context dictates otherwise. Consequently,although the invention has been described with respect to exemplaryembodiments, it will be appreciated that the invention is intended tocover all modifications and equivalents within the scope of thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method of implementingelectronic transfers with government consulates, the method comprising:receiving, via an interface terminal, a selection of a country'sconsulate and a location of the consulate comprising a city in which theconsulate has an office; receiving, via the interface terminal, aconsulate service selection; receiving, at an input device,documentation necessary to complete the selected service type;receiving, via the interface terminal, a payment for the selectedservice; and transmitting the service type selection, the documents, andthe payment to the selected consulate.
 2. The computer-implementedmethod of implementing electronic transfers with government consulatesaccording to claim 1, further comprising processing, by the country'sconsulate, the service selection.
 3. The computer-implemented method ofimplementing electronic transfers with government consulates accordingto claim 1, further comprising receiving, via the interface terminal,contact information for a customer.
 4. The computer-implemented methodof implementing electronic transfers with government consulatesaccording to claim 3, wherein the contact information comprises aselection from a group consisting of: the customer's name, thecustomer's address, the customer's telephone number, and the customer'semail address.
 5. The computer-implemented method of implementingelectronic transfers with government consulates according to claim 4,further comprising transmitting a confirmation of the selected serviceto the customer.
 6. The computer-implemented method of implementingelectronic transfers with government consulates according to claim 5,wherein the confirmation is transmitted to the customer using aselection from a group consisting of: a voice mail, an email, an SMStext, and a mailed document.
 7. The computer-implemented method ofimplementing electronic transfers with government consulates accordingto claim 1, wherein the input device is a dynamic scanning device. 8.The computer-implemented method of implementing electronic transferswith government consulates according to claim 7, wherein the dynamicscanning device is configured to adapt to at least one of the document'ssize, shape, texture, color, or thickness when scanning the document. 9.The computer-implemented method of implementing electronic transferswith government consulates according to claim 8, wherein the documentincludes a selection from a group consisting of: a birth certificate, adeath certificate, a passport, a marriage certificate, a driver'slicense, and a government ID.
 10. The computer-implemented method ofimplementing electronic transfers with government consulates accordingto claim 9, further comprising displaying, on a display device, eachdocument as the document is successfully scanned by the dynamic scanner.11. The computer-implemented method of implementing electronic transferswith government consulates according to claim 1, further comprisingreceiving, from the selected consulate, verification of the success ofthe selected service.
 12. The computer-implemented method ofimplementing electronic transfers with government consulates accordingto claim 1, wherein the payment includes a payment type.
 13. Thecomputer-implemented method of implementing electronic transfers withgovernment consulates according to claim 12, wherein the payment typeincludes a selection from a group consisting of: check, money transfer,wire transfer, cash, money order, electronic funds transfer, credit,debit, e-wallet, and e-currency.
 14. The computer-implemented method ofimplementing electronic transfers with government consulates accordingto claim 1, wherein the service selection comprises a selection from agroup consisting of: registering a birth; registering a death;requesting a birth certificate; requesting a death certificate;requesting a passport; and requesting an official document.
 15. Thecomputer-implemented method of implementing electronic transfers withgovernment consulates according to claim 1, wherein the method furthercomprises: transmitting, from the selected consulate to a customer, anupdate including a selection from a group consisting of: confirmation ofa transaction related to the service selection; and updated informationabout the transaction related to the service selection.
 16. A system forimplementing electronic transfers with government consulates, the systemcomprising: a kiosk having: a terminal interface configured to: receivea selection of a country's consulate, present a list of different citiesin which the consulate has offices, receive a selection of a city fromthe list of different cities, receive a service selection, and receive apayment for the selected service; a communications device configured totransmit to the selected country's consulate the service selection andthe payment. a transaction processor in communication with the kiosk viathe communications device, the transaction processor configured toreceive the service selection and the payment from the kiosk, andtransmit a service request; and a consulate system in communication withthe transaction processor, the consulate system configured to receiveand process the service request.
 17. The system for implementingelectronic transfers with government consulates according to claim 16,wherein the kiosk also includes a dynamic scanner configured toadaptively change shape in order to accommodate the scanned documents'size, shape, texture, or thickness.
 18. The system for implementingelectronic transfers with government consulates according to claim 16,wherein the communications device comprises a selection from a groupconsisting of: a wireless radio, a network interface card (NIC), aBluetooth adapter, a USB adapter, and a modem.
 19. The system forimplementing electronic transfers with government consulates accordingto claim 16, wherein the payment includes a payment type and the paymenttype includes a selection from a group consisting of: check, moneytransfer, wire transfer, cash, money order, electronic funds transfer,credit, debit, e-wallet, and e-currency.
 20. The system for implementingelectronic transfers with government consulates according to claim 16,wherein the terminal interface is further configured to: determine thelist of different cities in which the consulate has offices based on theselection of the country's consulate.
 21. The system for implementingelectronic transfers with government consulates according to claim 16,wherein the service selection comprises a selection from a groupconsisting of: registering a birth; registering a death; requesting abirth certificate; requesting a death certificate; requesting apassport; and requesting an official document.
 22. The system forimplementing electronic transfers with government consulates accordingto claim 16, wherein the consulate system is further configure to:transmit, to a customer, an update including a selection from a groupconsisting of: confirmation of a transaction related to the serviceselection; and updated information about the transaction related to theservice selection.
 23. A tangible non-transitory machine-readable mediumfor implementing electronic transfers with government consulates, havingsets of instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a machine,cause the machine to: receive, via an interface terminal, a selection ofa country's consulate and a selection of a specific location of aphysical location of one of the consulate offices; receive, via theinterface terminal, a consulate service selection; receive, via theinterface terminal, a payment for the selected service; and transmit theservice type selection and the payment to the selected consulate. 24.The machine-readable medium for implementing electronic transfers withgovernment consulates according to claim 23, wherein the instructionsfurther cause the machine to: determine the list of different cities inwhich the consulate has offices based on the selection of the country'sconsulate.
 25. The machine-readable medium for implementing electronictransfers with government consulates according to claim 23, wherein theservice selection comprises a selection from a group consisting of:registering a birth; registering a death; requesting a birthcertificate; requesting a death certificate; requesting a passport; andrequesting an official document.
 26. The machine-readable medium forimplementing electronic transfers with government consulates accordingto claim 23, wherein the instructions further cause the machine to:transmit, from the selected consulate to a customer, an update includinga selection from a group consisting of: confirmation of a transactionrelated to the service selection; and updated information about thetransaction related to the service selection.